Take What You Can, Give Nothing Back
by Xxsweet-venom-kissxX
Summary: When Snatchers come into their village and burn down homes, trying to find their prey, a brother and sister narrowly escape their grasp.  They decide, with a little help from some friends, to get revenge and snatch from the Snatchers.
1. Chapter 1

**7/13/12: I did a little more revising, again. I wanted to use the name Reagan in another work, and not wanting to have the same name for two different characters, I changed her to Lavinia. And changed a detail in order for it to comply with the next chapter a bit more.**

**Enjoy.  
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><p>The village was a quiet place, for the most part. It was peaceful. A small living area of witches and wizards, out away from the Muggles. Away from the cities. But news still traveled, as it always does. Those who worked at the Ministry knew of the regime change. Students headed to Hogwarts and having gone to get supplies experienced the change in the Alley, the desolation, the fear. Harry Potter was wanted and hunted; Voldemort had his puppet-Ministry. Everything had changed.<p>

Most felt safe where they were. Out far enough from the city, who would bother a tiny little hamlet this far out into the country? Really?

The people took in those who sought sanctuary, the Muggleborns, the blood-traitors. They came together as a community. Gave them what they could and sent them on their way. Helped them but not for too long.

They came in the night. Like they always did. The ones who were simply benefiting from the situation, hired to do the dirty work of the Death Eaters in exchange for freedom from Azkaban.

Snatchers.

In some ways, he thought them far worse than Voldemort's followers. They lived by no rules, no morals. Rape, pillage, plunder. Magical mercenaries, he once heard a Muggleborn call them. They did what they wanted, when they wanted. Hunted like animals. Knew no bounds.

Jonathan awoke, startled, coughing. He couldn't breathe, waking up from his sleep as a defense mechanism. Stumbling, he threw open the door and, covering his mouth with the neck of shirt with one hand, trailed the other along the wall. He heard his parents in the sitting room, rapidly speaking; they too had just woken.

His sister, two years his junior was hushed by fear, eyes wide and glistening with tears. She had their mother's auburn hair and blue eyes, as did he; they could have been twins if one didn't know the age difference.

"Dad, what's happening?" He tried to see out of the window, whatever thoughts he had confirmed by the screaming, the sound of rebounding spells.

"Snatchers. They're looking for someone."

Fury gripped him. How could the war hit them too? It was just the city. It shouldn't happen here. Unless they were looking for someone important.

Well, Harry freaking Potter hadn't strolled through town with his friends, so who the hell could they have been looking for? Or were they just going all out crazy and burning down their homes for the hell of it?

"Are we supposed to just let them burn our homes down? The hell are we doing standing here?"

He pulled his wand from his sleeve, striding towards the door. Lavinia followed him almost immediately; although still in a slight state of shock, she was with him when it came to anything regarding the war.

They weren't prepared for the sight they came upon. Bodies strewn all over the narrow roads, blood, screaming, the orange glow of flames surrounding them. They could make out a few Snatchers in the distance, holding a young woman, abusing her. The other way, a duel, other Snatchers setting fire to more buildings to smoke out the people, have them come into the streets.

They'd played right into it.

"Lavinia, get back inside." Their father's gruff voice cut through the shrill screams and shouts of spells. "You too, Jon."

Their mother followed soon after, pulling on her children's arms.

They pulled away from their mother, ignored their father, who at any other time, they would have obeyed. But before he could enforce his words, a flash of red struck him, stunning him to the ground. Their mother, too, was stricken by a Stunning spell.

Lavinia shuffled closer to her brother as the figure that Stunned their father closed in. Not as vicious as Greyback in appearance, but rugged enough to show he was weathered, experienced in things neither of the teens wanted to think about.

"Names, kids. You're 'ogwarts age, why ain't you in school?" Cockney accent. Leather jacket. Plaid pants. Boots. Scarf. Rag-tag uniform. Definitely a Snatcher. "Miss the train?"

Jon tried to put himself between his sister and the disheveled man, but Lavinia, despite being younger, was taller. But with a human shield in front of her, she was able to position her wand just by her brother's torso, the tip aimed at the stranger.

"Names, kiddies, now. You ain't worth much, but it's bette' to get you back to your proper place of learnin'."

The man went for Jonathan, who backed up and went to kick the man in the gut. Strong hands grabbed his leg and spun him around, tossing him face down on the ground. Lavinia threw a Knock-back jinx at the Snatcher, who merely landed a few feet away in front of them. Her mind wasn't focusing, the spell wasn't as powerful as it could have been.

She reached down and grabbed her older brother, pulling him to his feet. They ran. Heart pounding, blood rushing in their ears over the screaming and yelling and crackling of fire. The smell of blood and death and soot were rampant as they used alleyways whose outlets were known to the villagers, snaking their way to the surrounding woods.

They reached a familiar stretch of woods, an area they used to play in as kids. They used to spend all day out here, before Hogwarts. Their summers eventually became hanging out with other friends and was spent on homework and other activities and not so much playing outside. They had found an old, assumedly Muggle, trapdoor that led into a large cellar at the bottom. There was a tunnel, lined with old torches, and a door above another cellar at the other end.

When they first found it, it had been creepy as hell. Cobwebs, rodents, a rotten smell. But, with their father's permission and some spells, it was cleaned and smell-free and rid of any possible infestation. They used to play for hours at time, pretending to be daring heroes from their bedtime stories.

It wasn't much, but with the right spells of protection, they would be alright.

"What about mum and dad?" Lavinia asked, head jerking in every direction as if she could really see. It was the middle of night, the only light coming from the moon and the orange-glow of their burning homes.

"They'll be alright." It was just a quick thought. Their parents would be fine. The more he thought about it, the larger the seed of doubt grew in his mind. Jonathan lifted the trap door. "Get down. I'll do the spells. Who knows if they're watching for underage magic still…"

Lavinia climbed down the ladder, surrounded by pure darkness. They had stocked some Muggle things down here for light source as well as some magical objects, back when they couldn't do magic outside of school. Where was the…flashlight, yes, that was its name.

She groped around and found it, flipping the switch. It'd have to do until her brother came down. Adrenaline still in her system, Lavinia decided to search the tunnel and head to the other side. Just to keep busy.

There was a shuffle further down the passage. She stopped, and listened. Footsteps. Not hers. Tightening her grip on her wand (her only weapon, if her life was in danger, damn it all), she dared to continue on in the corridor.

There was nothing ahead of her, as least nothing in the range of this…flashlight. So…where were those footsteps coming from?

Lavinia felt something prod her in the back, hard. It wasn't a wand; it was cold and metallic. Besides there didn't seem to be any magic behind it; there was always _something_ about a wand that told you it wasn't just a stick. A Muggle could think it was a stick and call it that, but even they knew there was more to a wand when they held it.

She heard a click, deafening in the silence of the tunnel. There was more fear than confidence in the voice that asked, "Who are you?"


	2. Chapter 2

**And I finally got around to working on the next bit...enjoy.**

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><p>Lavinia was startled. She had only heard about guns in passing, never heard one fired, never touched one, never saw one. Was that what was pressed to her back just now?<p>

The voice let more fear seep from its' lips; a male, clearly frightened out of his mind as he spoke again, "Who are you?"

"A...friend, we're not here to…" She tried to stay calm and yet figure out what the hell was going on. Stumbling over words wasn't allowed.

"'We'? You and who else?" The thing at her back was pressed to her harder, digging into Lavinia's back.

"My brother. We're not here to hurt you. If anything, we're in the same boat."

Lavinia was shoved forward, away from the stranger and a bright light was shined in her direction. White light, like a _Lumos _spell, coming from a flashlight. She aimed her torch back at him, trying to see what he looked like. His light was practically blinding her, preventing her from seeing properly.

"I doubt it. I just saw my home go up in flames and some monsters kill my parents. I very much doubt you're in the same boat as me." She saw his arm rise to shoulder height and the gun was shakily aimed at her.

She had never held a gun, but she did not like the fact that the single hand holding it was trembling. Wands were tricky if the owner was scared and the shaking would throw off the aim and probably weaken the spell. She wondered if it worked the same way. His shaking could cause him to shoot for her leg and hit her head.

_Jonanthan, where are you? _She thought impatiently. Lavinia calmed her breathing, telling herself not to panic. This was easier than the Snatcher.

"Well, at least you have the certainty of their fate. We don't know what happened except that they were unconscious when we escaped the hands of one of the men." He might very well be a Muggle, best not to use terms to scare him more.

He seemed a little disarmed by her words, lowering the gun slightly. His eyes went to her right hand, where she held her wand tight but pointed at the ground. He must have thought the same thing of her, wondering if she was a Muggle.

"You're a witch." He stated it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. A Muggle wouldn't have.

_This makes things a little easier, then. _She thought.

Lavinia nodded. "Ravenclaw. I would have settled for Hufflepuff-less competitive. You?"

She glanced over the stranger's shoulder, and saw that Jonathan had quietly come back. He crept towards the other male.

"Hufflepuff." He replied.

She saw the hand relax, the gun finally aimed at the floor at his side.

Jonathan snatched the gun out of the holder's hand and tossed it to Lavinia, who readily caught it.

"Hey!" The stranger went to strike at Jonathan, who grabbed him by the shirt and held his wand to his neck. The flashlight clattered to the ground, spreading light down the corridor.

"Alright, Hufflepuff, why are you down here? And what were you doing aiming that thing at my sister?" He lit his wand over his head, to see the intruder. "I'm supposed to believe that thing you had is harmless?"

The other man had blonde hair and grey eyes, a little taller than Jonathan. They likely went to school together and he never knew; he didn't recognize him.

Lavinia picked up the bright flashlight (a handy thing to keep, considering she might not be able to risk underage magic) and examined the gun. There was a round thing that, if she pushed it, popped out and held the metal things that went inside. She thought they were called bullets, but she didn't understand what they had to do with bulls. She shook the gun and the little metal things fell to the floor with more noise than she thought.

"It should be now…" She picked up the bullets and shoved them into the pocket of the sweater she had grabbed before she dashed downstairs after her brother.

She went over to her brother, finally seeing who got into their hiding hole. She had a vague recollection of him, a passing face in another House. There weren't many students at Hogwarts, compared to the amount at a Muggle school, especially a public one. But there were enough to not know some of one's classmates, to be certain. He looked older than her, and she knew he at least wasn't in her year. Maybe Jonathan's age, a little older.

If he was here, that meant he must have been living in the village with them. Her brother clearly didn't recognize him. So many faces had passed through in recently weeks.

"So, you were a Hufflepuff?" Lavinia asked.

"I graduated two years ago. Got a job at the Ministry for a little while, and then quit for personal reasons."

"Reason being?" Jonathan prompted.

"Dad was a Muggle. Mum was a Muggleborn. I heard things were getting bad, and with the kidnappings…she said it was like last time, like when she was a kid. I stayed in the Ministry for a little under a year. We moved here before the invasion of the school."

That explained it. They had blended in well, came before the ones who were passing through. A permanent, quiet residence that kept to itself.

"You were hiding." Lavinia surmised.

The stranger nodded.

Jonathan let go of him, stretching his hand out in apology. "Sorry for the shove, mate."

"It's alright." The other man shook it, accepting the apology. "Circumstances and all."

Jonathan started to head back to the end he had come from, where most of the supplies were. Lavinia had followed, and the unnamed man took the nod of her head in the direction they were going as a sign to follow as well.

He stayed at her pace, a little further back from her brother. "I'm sorry about the gun. I have my wand, but I've been around them longer. Seems stupid, but it would help if I ever needed to pretend to be a Muggle."

"It's okay. We're all a little on edge." She gave a kind smile. "I'm Lavinia, and my brother's Jonathan."

"I'm Evan."

Jonathan started pulling out sleeping bags from one of the shelves, and flicked his wand, unrolling and cleaning them. Lavinia aimed the flashlight and dug around another compartment for the lanterns they had down here. They had gotten them years ago, the wick enchanted to burn without oil for several days. She found a small tin of replacement wicks as well.

Evan watched, leaning against a stone wall while the two siblings worked to create a make-shift campsite. They had a bond, working in synch with each other; he lit the lanterns, she set out arranging the bags.

"Why the lanterns if you guys have the hand-torches?" Evan asked.

"Those run on batteries, and they're brighter. Save them for when we need them, we'll use our old supplies up first. You want to take a look down there and make sure no one else is with us?"

The eldest of the three complied, leaving the siblings alone.

Jonathan had explained that he had protected a large area that encompassed both entrances, so they could at least head up to the surface and be safe, hopefully.

"We need food, Jon. Can't last long without it." Lavinia had picked her sleeping bag, only for her brother to drag one bag to the other side of the room, placing Evan across from them.

More to keep him away from his sister than anything. He threatened Lavinia, and while he could deal with an addition to the two of them, Jonathan wasn't keen on having a stranger sleep next to his sister.

"We'll make it work. What do think?"

"Of what?"

"Him."

"He's shaken, Jon. He was still in shock when he was holding this." She had shoved the revolver into her other cardigan pocket and took it out to hold it. "He was playing into his role as a Muggle when they came. But I think we can trust him. We have to. Better to have someone else who can legally do magic. I'm useless unless we want to get caught."

Evan came back, extinguishing his wand as he stated that it was clear. No rats, no bats, no humans except them.

"Good. Now, I think sleep is in order, since all of us had an interruption earlier." Jonathan didn't hesitate to slip into the sleeping bag and turn on his side, facing the tunnel. "That one's you." He pointed across to the empty sleeping bag.

"Thanks. Good night, then."

They gave a reply of the same tiding, and Jonathan dimmed the lantern. The shock had begun to wear off, and he suddenly felt very tired, a weight on his chest that he was sure hadn't been there previously.


End file.
